Study: Half of Michigan Medicaid expansion enrollees are in workforce

Wednesday

Dec 13, 2017 at 8:00 PM

The research raises concerns about potential work requirements for enrollees; as many already have a job and others are in poor health.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — A study released Monday finds roughly half of those enrolled in Michigan’s Medicaid program since its expansion have jobs and another quarter who are unemployed are likely to be in poor health, raising concerns about potential work requirements for enrollees.

Authors of the study by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation say the findings suggest that such requirements could disrupt health coverage for vulnerable people with chronic health conditions, and states will incur administrative costs of launching such a work requirement effort “ to identify and enforce employment for relatively few individuals.”

The study, authors say, is the first published report about health and work-related information directly received from enrollees in states that have expanded their Medicaid programs. It’s also the first peer- reviewed study from the institute’s formal evaluation of the Healthy Michigan Plan.

Medicaid is a health insurance program for lowincome individuals and families jointly funded by the federal and state government. Those eligible to receive Medicaid include children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

According to the study based on 2016 surveys of about 4,000 people enrolled in Michigan’s program, 49 percent of respondents said they were working full or part-time, with incomes all below 133 percent of the federal poverty level — about $ 15,800 per individual and $ 32,300 for a family of four. Of the 28 percent unemployed, a quarter reported having a physical or mental impairment that interfered with their ability to function at least half the days in the prior month.

Michigan has about 2 million people on Medicaid and 665,000 people enrolled in Healthy Michigan.

The Obama admin-istration, which shepherded the federal health care law known as the Affordable Care Act that also expanded Medicaid coverage, had rejected work requirements. But the Trump administration has urged states to consider changes to Medicaid programs to encourage work and independence. A growing number of mainly Republican- led states have asked or plan to ask for work requirements or other waivers to Obamaera Medicaid rolls. A Michigan lawmaker also has introduced a bill.

“The question raised by these data for states is, is it worth the cost to screen and track enrollees when only a small minority isn’t working who are potentially able to work?” Renuka Tipirneni, the study’s lead author, asked in a release accompanying the report. “

Medicaid expansion was designed to cover those who have a gap in their coverage, or jobs that don’t offer insurance but don’t pay enough to allow someone to afford individual coverage,” Tipirneni said.

On the web: Michigan Medicaid program information

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